Field notes

Places

Stories behind the coastlines, deserts, cities, and quiet overlooks in the archive.

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Showing 12 places and 113 matched photographs.

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8 photographs

Ocean Beach

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Wide panoramic view of a sandy beach strewn with kelp, framed by a concrete pier stretching out into ocean waves under a bright, clear sun.

Beneath the Pier

Ocean Beach meets the Pacific at San Diego’s western edge, where the concrete fishing pier has long shaped the neighborhood’s horizon. Built in 1966, the pier became both a gathering place and a landmark for anglers and visitors. Beneath its repeating columns, shifting tide and reflected light turn the structure into a changing frame for the coast.

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Sunset over a ocean shore with bright golden light reflecting off wet sand, gentle incoming waves, and dark silhouetted coastal rocks.

Low-angle perspective beneath a concrete ocean pier, casting a sharp geometric shadow across wet sand scattered with seaweed under a bright blue sky.

Textured cloud pattern glowing in shades of pink, orange, and purple above silhouetted trees and rooftops.

Silhouette of a metal gate with cutout lettering that reads OCEAN BEACH, set against a fiery ocean sunset and deep blue sky.

5 photographs

Sunset Cliffs & Point Loma

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High-angle view of layered coastal sandstone cliffs meeting turquoise ocean water near a natural rock arch and rocky cove.

Overlook at the Pacific Arch

Along San Diego’s Point Loma Peninsula, Sunset Cliffs Natural Park stretches across 68 acres of sandstone cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Waves continually shape the soft sandstone, carving arches, caves, and sea stacks along the coast. These sea-carved forms and broad ocean views give the setting its visual character. At sunset, the park offers one of San Diego’s most striking views toward the Pacific horizon.

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A tall steel lattice tower silhouetted against a deep orange sunset sky over the ocean coastline.

Bright orange sunset over ocean waves reflecting onto wet sandy shoreline with scattered pebbles and rugged cliffs on the right.

Docked boats and sailboats in a calm marina under a vivid magenta and purple sunset sky, with patio umbrellas visible on the right.

Vibrant pink and orange sunset sky over a calm ocean view framed by silhouetted palm trees and coastal bluffs.

9 photographs

La Jolla & Torrey Pines

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Wooden stairs with white railings leading down to a rocky beach as a bright sun breaks through thick clouds over the ocean.

Coastal Stairway at Dusk

La Jolla stretches along about seven miles of San Diego's Pacific coastline, twelve miles north of downtown. The shore changes dramatically along the way, from 300-foot sea cliffs to rocky reefs, hidden coves and wide golden beaches. Over millennia, waves and slow tectonic uplift carved its soft sedimentary rock into terraces, overhangs and sea caves that shelter seabirds. The Kumeyaay, who lived along these bluffs for thousands of years, are thought to have named the area for those caves, calling it the "land of holes."

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